Thursday, April 13, 2006

Of Sweaters and Seders

Surprise! There is a cat in the way! This time it is Aku, who checks every available surface for it's possible bedding potential.

Here's a slightly better picture:

It still looks like I'm making him a dress, but I swear I'm not.

I didn't have very much time to work on the sweater last night, as a matter of fact, I think I only accomplished 2 rows on my way over to Allen's mum's house for the Passover Seder. Passover is the 8 day observance commemorating the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II, and a Seder is an impossibly long meal consisting of a combination of very bland and very sharp tasting foods, 4 glasses of wine, and a guest of honor that never shows up.

All of this, of course, I had to commemorate on film. This is my third Passover dinner with the Cowetts, and it's so far always been the same.

First, we all sit down around the table, upon which is the Seder plate...

and upon which you will find the traditional bitter herbs (horseradish), hard-boiled egg (for birth and renewal) cardboard shankbone (hey, actual shankbones are huge!) greens, and haroset.

Here's the Seder plate Allen, age 8, made -

hee hee.

Smile, folks! It's almost time to eat! Here's Allen and Katherine.

And here's Beth and her fee-ahn-sea Milo.

They're going to elope! They are smarter than Allen and I!

Allen and Beth take turns leading us in readings and songs -

I could do without the songs, myself, as I a.) don't know them and b.) am not convinced that Allen and Beth have a firm handle on them either.

We realized that Oops! We forgot to light the candles -

The guest who never shows up is Elijah, but just in case, we pour him a glass of wine in a special cup -

and we open the door for him in case he's coming by.

We pass around the matzos, which are mostly tasteless but good with horseradish...

and also tasty with haroset, a traditional element of the Seder plate that is a combination of apples, walnuts, honey, wine, and spices.

One tradition I like to steer clear from is the Fear Factor-ish Gefilte fish, pictured whole and in a cross-section below.

For some reason, blogger won't let me download the photo of the jar, but this is exactly what it looked like.

In case you can't see it, it does say "In Jelled Broth" on the label.

And, yes, that is exactly as gross as you think it is.

Tonight I am making matzo ball soup, which will hopefully be good. I made chicken stock overnight on Monday - Allen and I had to get up early on Tuesday to put it away. I made chicken salad for Allen to eat during the week at work - and other than that, I am pretty much out of bright ideas.

1 comment:

Ashley
said...

Angela! Thanks so much for posting the pics of your seder. We haven't met in person, but hello! I'm Allen's friend Ashley, and this week (like Allen, I'm sure) I'm trying to come up with appetizing variations on the theme of something-yummy-spread-on-an-unyummy-bed-of-matzoh. Not easy! I've already run out of the mushroom tapenade I made for our seder (a vegan substitute for the traditional chopped liver) and one can only eat so much peanut butter. (sigh)In any case, thanks so much for posting these pics!Take care & I look forward to meeting you in person in November.